Senator Kid Rock. Don’t Laugh. As you’re reading this, odds are a Democratic operative in Michigan or Washington, D. C., is listening to Kid Rock’s gravelly voice—rapping, shrieking or crowing, depending on the song—and meticulously cataloguing every single offensive syllable. The renegade musician and prospective candidate for U. S. Senate is an opposition researcher’s dream come true: For more than two decades, Robert Ritchie—or Bobby, as he asks people to call him—has written and performed provocative records about, among other things, extravagant drug use, excessive drinking and sexual exploits with prostitutes, strippers and Hollywood starlets. These lyrics are far from hollow. Kid Rock’s hard- partying image is central to his popularity and has been exhaustively documented in media accounts over the years. Political opponents will be digging through more than just his albums, too: There’s the sex tape he starred in, the arrest following a Waffle House brawl, the no- contest plea to charges he assaulted a DJ at a Nashville strip club, the messy divorce from Pamela Anderson. If that weren’t enough, he has offered other forms of ammunition to potential foes in interviews over the years, such as when he told Rolling Stone of his distaste for Beyonc. I don’t love anybody who acts like a fuckin’ faggot”). Because of his manifest rebelliousness—the offensive language, the sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll lifestyle, the middle finger to polite company—Kid Rock’s tweet last week announcing that he is considering a campaign for U. S. Senate in Michigan was met with predictable contempt from the political class. How dare the foul- mouthed, long- haired, wifebeater- wearing, Jim Beam- swigging, self- described redneck suggest he belongs in the world’s greatest deliberative body? Moreover, critics had immediate cause to call his bluff: The website he tweeted out, www. Warner Bros. Records, and Ritchie, who’s gearing up for a fall tour, also just happened to release two new singles from his forthcoming album. Consensus formed at warp speed along the Acela corridor that it’s a money- making publicity stunt, that Kid Rock for Senate should not be taken seriously. Story Continued Below. That might be a huge miscalculation. Yes, healthy skepticism is warranted: Not a single prominent Republican in Michigan told us they’d heard from Ritchie or his associates about a campaign. Good musicians are great marketers, and Kid Rock has been brilliant in terms of creating and selling a brand. His flirtation with electoral politics could be nothing more than a promotional ploy aimed at rekindling interest in his career—he’s had only one single reach any of Billboard’s charts in the past four years—and boosting his bottom line. And yet this theory doesn’t appear consistent with the man himself: Ritchie, who already boasts a huge and devoted following, has sold tens of millions of albums and amassed what he calls “fuck you money”—enough of it, in fact, that he has given seven- figure sums to charity and capped ticket prices to his concerts at $2. Meanwhile, he’s earned a reputation in his native southeast Michigan as someone who is earnest when it comes to civic involvement, helping local businesses and headlining major philanthropic events. When Mitt Romney asked for his endorsement ahead of the pivotal Michigan primary in 2. Ritchie invited him to his Metro Detroit home and peppered him with a list of policy questions, sleeping on the decision before informing Romney the next day he would support him. The two forged an unexpected bond: Romney adopted the patriotic rock anthem “Born Free” as his official campaign song, and Ritchie later praised the former Massachusetts governor as “the most decent motherfucker I’ve ever met in my life.”None of this guarantees Ritchie will run, but it suggests he shouldn’t be mocked when he says he’s thinking about it—especially now that the media and the left have summarily and sneeringly popped his trial balloon. This same dismissiveness greeted (and motivated) Donald Trump throughout the 2. Americans last fall elected a foul- mouthed political novice who was heard boasting on audiotape of grabbing women’s genitals without their permission, it’s worth noting that significant parallels exist between the rock star and the real estate mogul. So if you’re still not taking Kid Rock seriously, here’s why you should: His path to the U. S. Senate is far easier than Trump’s was to the White House.“Presuming Kid Rock doesn’t get caught in bed with a little boy, or beat up a woman between now and August 2. Dennis Lennox, a Republican political consultant in Michigan. I think he’s the prohibitive favorite if he gets in.”Trump competed with 1. Republican nomination, more than a dozen of whom were established, well- regarded, well- financed campaigners; Ritchie would enter a primary field of three little- known newcomers to partisan politics. Trump was targeted by a national network of influential donors and activists who laughed him off at first, only to mount a desperate scramble to thwart his candidacy once they realized their peril; Ritchie would face little such resistance in a state where primaries aren’t preordained by party bosses. Trump started his run with no obvious base or blueprint for victory; Ritchie would launch a campaign on the strength of his favorite- son status that cuts across socioeconomic boundaries and is particularly resonant with the president’s winning coalition of culturally conservative, populist- minded, blue- collar voters. The general election is a different story. Debbie Stabenow, the Democratic incumbent, is deeply entrenched after cruising to reelection by 1. She is affable, well- known and relatively popular around the state. She has more than $4 million in her campaign account, and won’t have to start spending much until after next August’s Republican primary. She is hands- down the Democratic Party’s best politician in Michigan. Stabenow will be very difficult to beat. But this, perhaps more than anything else, makes the case for Kid Rock: Stabenow has devoured her last two challengers and will almost certainly make it three in a row if Republicans run another traditional campaign. Enter the self- described American Bad Ass. But I’m still not concerned if I’m Debbie Stabenow.”Running for Senate, especially for someone brand new to politics, can be a logistical nightmare: deadlines, disclosure forms, vendor contracts, legal fees, campaign finance regulations. Some Democrats are convinced Ritchie won’t follow through—not because he doesn’t want to, but because he’s touring through November and conventional wisdom says a viable candidate can’t wait that long to get a campaign off the ground. Created by Bonnie Turner, Terry Turner. With John Lithgow, Jane Curtin, Kristen Johnston, French Stewart. A group of aliens are sent to Earth, disguised as a human. Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor, producer and professional wrestler. Johnson was a college. Daily coverage of the pro wrestling industry. Download our free mobile app on iOS & Android for the latest wrestling news. Located in the mountains of northern New Jersey. Facilities include swimming, boating, tennis, volleyball, and sauna. Pictures, events calendar, rates, and contact. Kid Rock doesn’t need to run a standard campaign; he has nearly universal name- identification that will earn him free media to make up for any lack of traditional ground game. Obviously it scares others who want someone more predictable,” says Saul Anuzis, former chairman of the Michigan GOP. He’s a hometown darling. He’s got deep connections to Detroit. He’s done a lot throughout the state,” Anuzis adds. The Motor City. The arsenal of democracy. The Bad Boys. Detroit’s popular image—grit, swagger, resilience—and the identity derived from it so permeate the region and much of the rest of the state that even those who do not hail from inside the city limits claim a sort of honorary citizenship. It’s how Bobby Ritchie, born into considerable wealth and raised in Macomb County, came to be viewed as a champion for Detroit and therefore a representative of Michigan writ large. When Ritchie was born there in 1. Macomb was in the middle of a great tidal shift. Over the previous decade, the county’s population had swelled by 5. Detroit, which sits just south of the county on the other side of 8 Mile Road. The new residents, like the old ones, were overwhelmingly white. They were blue- collar workers, many of whom owed allegiance to one of the “Big Three” automakers. Emerson, Lake & Palmer drummer, Carl Palmer's, official web site. Features news, info, a history of Carl's career with Asia, ELP, a photo gallery, merchandise and more! Senate bid shouldn’t be taken seriously. That’s a huge mistake. The Texarkana Gazette is the premier source for local news and sports in Texarkana and the surrounding Arklatex areas. They were Democrats and proudly so, this being Macomb, which as recently as 1. Democratic suburban county in America. But a transformation was underway, thanks to a combination of the Democratic Party lurching left on cultural issues, backlash over cross- district busing and the rise of racially tinged fears of worsening crime in inner- city Detroit. By 1. 98. 0, when Ronald Reagan won his first term as president, Macomb was the most Republican suburban county in America. It was in this Macomb County that young Bobby Ritchie grew up—and where his Senate candidacy would be anchored. Macomb, birthplace to the fabled Reagan Democrats of the 1. Republican under the right circumstances. Debbie Stabenow; shaking hands with Paul Ryan at a Romney- Ryan event in October 2. Sheryl Crow at Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, October 2. Kid Rock’s public persona has been, at different points in his career, that of the chill country boy, the trailer park hoodlum and the street- prowling pimp. But Ritchie’s childhood was one of comfortable plenty. He grew up in Romeo, a small town in Macomb’s rural northwest corner—roughly 2. Detroit’s outermost city limits—best known for its apple orchards and annual peach festival. His father, Bill Ritchie, owned Crest Lincoln Mercury, a successful car dealership in nearby Sterling Heights, and, for a time, served as head of the powerful Detroit Automobile Dealers Association. His mother, Susan, raised the couple’s four children (Bobby was No. The family lived in an immense, 1. The Ritchies were known for their raging barn parties, blasting the heartland rock of Bob Seger late into the night. Yet it was here—ensconced in 9. Macomb, in a world of privilege and opportunity—that Robert Ritchie fell in love with rap music. During the late ’8.
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